Repairs Cost More Than It's Worth, With B-21 Raider on the Way

The US Air Force won't be bringing back a damaged B-2A Spirit bomber, further whittling away at the irreplaceable fleet of strategic aircraft. The plane in question was contrasted against one that had a minor crash in 2010. That aircraft was shipped back to Northrop Grumman for repair, ultimately rejoining the fleet to the tune of about $100 million and 4 years of labor. The latest incident won't see the same amount of TLC, however, as a recent Force Structure Report showed that the B-2 fleet would head into 2025 one plane short.

Seventh Crewed SpaceFlight Now on the Books

Blue Origin has announced its anticipated launch date for the NS-25 mission, taking off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Sunday, May 19th. The New Shepard mission will see 6 passengers through Blue Origin's seventh human spaceflight. The group will include Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, Gopi Thotakura, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight. 

Kit Helicopter's A-Game Gains Recognition at Spring's Biggest Fly-In

Hummingbird's 300L helicopter was awarded "Best Helicopter" at the recent Sun 'n Fun fly-in, garnering some serious bragging rights for the design. Vertical Aviation took a brief moment to make a little victory lap for their Hummingbird 300L, noting its popularity around the show. Their display aircraft was completed by Frank McMullan and Vic Syracuse, who did a great job with a multi-layer black, red, and gold striped livery. It's a nice showing for a fresh addition to the world of kit helicopters, straddling the best of homebuilt experimental and certificated aircraft. 

Scaled Version of Hybrid eVTOL X5 Shows Promise

Hybrid eVTOL manufacturer, or better said, developer, showed off its latest flight test using a smaller scaled version of its high-wing Cavorite X5. The short tethered test flight shows the Cavorite take off from a standstill, lifting off and testing its behavior as it gently moves through a handful of power settings and control checks. It validated the Cavorite's yaw control system, as well as demonstrated to a small degree how stable and effective the aircraft is while taking off in VTOL mode.

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Two aircraft performing at the Fort Lauderdale Air Show clipped wings during a routine last Sunday, spooking onlookers. The aircraft were performing as a part of the Polaris Ghost Squadron, a team of urban-camo milsurplus jets hailing from across Eastern Europe. The Polaris Ghost Squadron features an eye-catching MiG-29, a trio of Alpha Jets, and a quartet of Albatros L39s. The US Air Force won't be bringing back a damaged B-2A Spirit bomber, further whittling away at the irreplaceable fleet of strategic aircraft. The plane in question was contrasted against one that had a minor cr

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The Perris SkyDive DC-9 is ALIVE! Following initial test flights and practice landings that were flown by a flight crew that had to be brought in all the way from Florida, the California DZ put the DC9 back in service and made at least three jump runs on Saturday, taking about 60 jumpers each to about 15K'. An interesting surprise occurred this week as Wag-Aero customers logged on to their site in order to order a few things...no Wag-Aero. Instead, the site was redirected to Aircraft Spruce, which has apparently bought out the once popular Wag-Aero operations shortly afte

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UVify is claiming a new Guinness World Record for the most unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) airborne simultaneously. This event took place in Songdo, Korea, where UVify orchestrated a display of 5,293 IFO drones that lit up the night sky. The fleet of IFO drones created intricate patterns and visuals above the crowd, showcasing UVify's programming and drone control technology. The record-breaking feat exceeded the previous record. Airbus has completed the acquisition of US-based Aerovel and its unmanned aerial system (UAS), Flexrotor. Flexrotor is a small tactical unmanned aerial

Drone App Offers Easy Integration for Enterprise Add-Ons

FlytBase, a platform designed to support and coordinate enterprise drone operations, has announced the addition of 'Flinks', or FlytBase Links, an API allowing third party applications and devices to work with the app and expand their scope of business capabilities. Flink acts as a unifying layer, where organizations can "create end-to-end automated workflows and conduct fully autonomous, safe, and efficient drone operations. FlytBase knows that its biggest and most active commercial users have to herd a lot of cats when flying for pay, planning out their operations, checking legality, ensuring traffic awareness, maintaining their aircraft, and fulfilling the mission. 

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For the first time, students from Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Florida, campus took top honors at the AIAA Design/Build/Fly (DBF) Competition, held in Wichita, Kansas. A second Embry-Riddle squad, this one from the Prescott, Arizona, campus, also placed among the top teams, earning eighth overall. The Leadership in Flight Training, or LIFT Academy, has expanded its training fleet with a recent order with Diamond Aircraft, bringing on 56 new planes. The deal sees LIFT gain 50 new single-engine DA40s, and 6 twin-engine DA42s. The training facility has continued to exp

35 Percent Sustainable Blend Shows Just How Quickly the Industry Embraces Tech

Sustainable aviation fuel has been procured for the upcoming European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE2024) in Geneva, Switzerland. The Sustainable Aviation Fuel sourced for EBACE comes from Jet Aviation, offering a 35% SAF blend for the third year running. It's not the highest titration they have around, but that's 35% less virgin petroleum per gallon, and it can add up quickly. 

UK Industry Group Invests in Future Talent

The Air Charter Association is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a new sponsored internship program, supporting its UK compatriots with enhanced career opportunities as they forge their path into the industry. It has been termed the ACA 75 Internship Program, and will offer a 3.5-month stint where youths 18 to 25 get "expert training, hands-on work experience, a competition project, and a networking and awards presentation event." The Association is accepting applications through June 10th, 2024. Details can be found on their website.

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The Judge overseeing Icon's convoluted Chapter 11 process has approved $9 million in Chapter 11 financing and set a June asset auction for the Icon A5 Program -- and said that objections had apparently been resolved (for the moment) by shareholders who claimed (not surprisingly) that Icon was being sold to an 'insider.' Judge Craig T. Goldblatt gave final approval to Icon's (DIP) debtor-in-possession financing and approved the sales schedule... but has yet to approve that previously disclosed stalking horse bidder. On April 12, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Dis

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US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall was given a turn around the patch in the 'X-62A Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft, or VISTA, to illustrate just how far autonomous aircraft have come. The aircraft sounds much snazzier than it is in reality, being a 30-year old, 2-seat F-16D with a nifty paint job and an R2-D2 in one of the seats. The aircraft has long been in the US Air Force Test Pilot School, where it received modifications for multi-axis thrust vectoring and aerodynamics. AgEagle Aerial Systems will ship 40 of its eBee VISION systems, along with 9 more eBees, wi

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The Beechcraft Denali continues moving forward towards certification, having received its FAA Type Inspection Authorization early this year. Textron advertised that their single-engine turboprop competitor has logged more than 2,000 flight test hours across 830+ flights, on track for completion in 2025. Aerodyne, a new gyroplane manufacturer, will be commemorating its entry into the market with an attempt at setting some records as it runs a lap around the United Kingdom. Founder, executive chairman, and pilot Rangaraja Iyengar will make a full lap around the whole

From 2023 (YouTube Version): Legacy of a Titan

Robert (Bob) Anderson Hoover was a fighter pilot, test pilot, flight instructor, and air show superstar. More so, Bob Hoover was an icon of American military and civil aviation, and a man whose achievements in and out of the cockpit stand with those of Wiley Post, Richard Byrd, Chuck Yeager, Albert Scott Crossfield, and John Boyd. Hoover flew Spitfires in the United States Army Air Force during the Second World War. In 1944, he was shot down off the coast of France and held for over a year in a German POW camp. Ill-suited to captivity, Hoover escaped his Nazi captors, eventually

Airplane Flew Over The Top Of (Witness) From The East To The West, Then Entered A Nosedive

On April 30, 2024, at 1418 eastern daylight time, a Zodiac CH-601 HDS airplane, N6271F, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Bristol, Indiana. The private pilot and pilot-rated passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot’s wife reported that he and the passenger intended to fly to Branch County Memorial Airport (OEB), Coldwater, Michigan, for lunch and then return to Elkhart Municipal Airport (EKM) Elkhart, Indiana, where the airplane was hangared. She stated that this was a very popular flight for the pilot, and he usually returned within

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Are you on Instagram yet? It's been around for a few years, quietly picking up traction mostly thanks to everybody's new obsession with mobile photography. Instagram is a social networking app made for sharing photos and videos from a smartphone - which has lent itself well to the news industry. Did you know that approx. 62% of adults in the United States get their news from social media? That’s more than you thought right! Aero-News Net

Aero Linx: B-52H Stratofortress The B-52H Stratofortress is a long-range, heavy bomber that can perform a variety of missions. The bomber is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet. It can carry nuclear or precision guided conventional ordnance with worldwide precision navigation capability.

Altimeter Setting The barometric pressure reading used to adjust a pressure altimeter for variations in existing atmospheric pressure or to the standard altimeter setting (29.92).

"Over the past several months, Horizon has made incredible progress. I am continually amazed with the technical aptitude of our team as it clears one engineering hurdle after another. The transition flight testing program has taken significant strides forward, with the aircraft demonstrating impressive stability and control all the way from hover to approaching transition speeds." Source: A company statement made as the Hybrid eVTOL manufacturer, or better said, developer, showed off its latest flight test using a smaller scaled version of its high-wing Cavorite X5.